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ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
January/February 2018 StudentHousingBusiness.com
50
Focusing on Experience
As Generation Z enters their college years, student housing architecture designs are changing —
on- and off-campus.
Compiled by Katie Sloan, Jaime Lackey and Randall Shearin
S
Student housing is seeing a change as students
and universities desire study areas, flexible space,
communal gathering spaces and other amenities
that enhance their college experience. Design-
ers are brought in at the forefront to imagine
new spaces, and bring to life what developers,
students and universities envision. SHB recently
interviewed several of the most active student
housing architects to find out what trends they
are seeing with the latest projects on their boards.
SHB spoke with Jack Boarman, partner, BKV
Group; Ray Kimsey, president, Niles Bolton Asso-
ciates; Mary Moltzan, principal, Charlan Brock
Associates; Peter Bartash, associate principal,
Cube3 Studio; Greg Faulkner, president, Hum-
phreys & Partners Architects; and Aldo Minozzi,
project manager and design team leader, PQH
Group Design.
SHB: What are clients asking for in terms of
amenities? How has this changed and do you see
more changes on the horizon?
Minozzi: The abun-
dance of institutions
of higher education
has created an envi-
ronment of competi-
tiveness that is not
limited to the aca-
demic offerings of col-
leges and universities.
This competitiveness
extends to the qual-
ity of their campus
facilities and how this
reflects on the new
student's expecta-
tion of their college
experience. Campus
designs, and particu-
larly those of housing facilities, are focused on
providing amenities that are becoming closer to
resorts than the dorm rooms of previous genera-
tions. Although luxury is not a factor, the creation
of comfortable spaces that promote student inter-
action such as game rooms, fitness rooms, hospi-
tality and leisure areas have become standard in
new buildings. As competition grows, so will the
requirements of amenities that complement the
comfort of dormitory units.
The fifth floor lounge at UCCS West Edge, designed by Cube3 Studio,
in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Sterling Northgate, designed by Humphreys & Partners, is a 702-bed, seven-story
off-campus student housing project with 2,000 square feet of retail space near
Texas A&M University in College Station.
Photo
courtesy
of
Cube3
Studio
ALDO MINOZZI
Project manager and
design team leader,
PQH Group Design
Photo
courtesy
of
Hugh
Hargrave/Humphreys
&
Partners